Born in Flames

A conversation on the wave of landlord perpetrated arson in the Bronx during the 1970s.

A new book reveals systematic, profitable, and deadly arson schemes perpetrated by landlords and insurance companies in the Bronx.

The 21st century American city was forged in the embers of the 1970s arson wave.

To some, the fires lit in New York in the late seventies signaled rampant crime; to others, rebellion. But maybe they were signs of something else entirely.